Saturday, April 25, 2009

The weather has finally taken a turn for the better. Warm temperatures and sunshine makes everyone feel better. But, with that weather comes a few more chores around the house and farm.

Secret Agent Man has the garden tilled and ready for planting.

The clothes line has been full all day long.

This morning Secret Agent Man did some repair work on the tree swing. It now has a new rope and it is a little higher, since the chiclets are growing much taller. I peeked out a window to check on his progress and caught him swinging away. He tells me it was for "testing purposes". Yeah, right...

I did find someone who seemingly escaped a day of chores. Our cat, Bisquit, napped all day long. He enjoyed some peace and quiet.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

On Saturday I took the point and shoot digital camera on the fishing trip. When I returned home I found a large number of photographs saved on the camera. Hmmmm....it looks like someone left a little bit of evidence of their sneaky behavior.

It looks like Barbie has been practicing for her cooking show debut.

And here someone took a picture of Toots with Marsha, the puppet.

A shot of the dollhouse kitchen. Suspicious.....

Obviously, Marsha is a favorite subject.

And here we have a stellar self portrait. I think Toots might as well turn herself in.

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Now that Secret Agent Man has all of that restaurant work behind him, we decided to take a little fishing expedition today. A day of togetherness, family love, and getting along all day. We loaded up our teensy, wooden, LEAKY fishing boat and headed out to the creek. Secret Agent Man had to be brave and drive across the slab, (a bridge that really is just a slab of concrete over a creek), when the water was flowing over it.

He wanted me to drive my fabulous, ruby red caddy over the slab and I said, "BWHAHAHAHAHAHA......uhhh...no."

We all have our unwritten roles when we head out in the boat. Secret Agent Man mans the oars. Toots snacks a lot and typically, The Deerslayer catches a lot of fish. Me....well, I am the official Office Manager of the boat. I assist with the dispersing of snacks and drinks. I duck a lot, hoping that my crazy children don't hook me in the head while they are casting. And, I attempt to fix tangled fishing lines. On occasion I even wring out the sponge that soaks up water in the leaky boat.

As the self appointed Office Manager of the boat I keep some scrupulous records. Here is our rundown:

Number of baits lost: 4

Number of times a fishing line broke: 2

Number of times the Toots hooked her line way up in a tree: I lost count

Number of cheese puffs consumed: over a million, at least

Number of times I wished I had packed something stronger than Capri Sun: too many times to count people, too many times to count

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Tonight we held a small gathering of family and friends to open our restaurant endeavor. While we will not actually be running the restaurant, we have spent months rehabilitating a very old building located on our town's historic town square. And since it was not really the formal opening (that is tomorrow) Secret Agent Man felt it was his duty to cover the glass doors with his very own top secret weapon targets. Very covert....

Furniture was in place, napkins were folded, and the music was playing.

People began arriving and the food started cooking.

The staff did a wonderful job and the food was EXCELLENT. Miguel's new cook is a keeper, for sure.

And finally, the picture of three couples who brought together time, money, effort, and a little insanity to complete a project that will start a new business in our small town.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Once upon a time, long ago, when I lived in the city I had a different vocabulary. Well, I really had quite a different life. There were no children or dogs. No antique farmhouse, no barns, and no skunks. Life was lived in a neighborhood squeezed in between other houses. Social chatter in the neighborhood was polite, dogs did not roam free, and the yard was the size of a postage stamp. Ahhhh...the easy life.

But when Secret Agent Man and I gave up all that glorious living, along came some new vocabulary phrases. When your life changes that drastically, your words change with it. There were, and still are, new things we adapt to everyday. So, when some new cows showed up at the farmette recently I began, yet again, asking:

"Is the cow water on?" - meaning, is the water on at the barn. If so, that would explain the drastic drop in water pressure at the house. Although our antique farmhouse has been renovated, it continues to exude quirky charm.

Another gem, when you might be hungry is:

"Do you want to go to the chicken house?" - meaning, do you want to drive to town and eat at the local fried chicken establishment. And no, it's not Colonel chicken. And no, it really does not mean to go kill a fresh chicken.

And my personal favorite:

"Did you take the trash to the end of the road?" meaning, did you load up all of the crammed packed trash cans in the back of the flashy-mac-daddy farm truck, drive them to the end of our country road, and unload them for the trash man to pick up? People, in my former life all I had to do was haul the trash can out the front door and set it on the curb. In all fairness I have to say that Secret Agent Man does the Sunday night trash run. PTL.

And now, I really must get going. I've got to go turn off the cow water.

Friday, April 10, 2009

Several months ago Secret Agent Man, myself, Southern Fried Momma, and Rico, bought a very antique building located on our historic town square. At the time, we did not know what we were going to do with the structure. It had been empty for quite a few years and had deteriorated over that time. It was filled with junk, some unique and some pretty gross. After the junk had been cleaned out it looked like this.

We were soon approached by a family wanting to lease this space from us and put in a Mexican restaurant. Interesting for sure, but our building needed A LOT of work. Rico and Secret Agent Man have been hard at it for the past few months. Lots of late nights and weekends have been spent working on this space. Plumbing, electric, and the heat/air systems all had to be updated.

It has finally come together and in a few days (hopefully) all inspections will be passed and the doors will officially open.

How do I know this if finally official? How do I know that we are really going to get these doors open?

This is how I know.....the vendor who supplies the sweet tea came to set up his supplies. This is a true southern sign that people are REALLY going to come and eat at this establishment. I mean, no respectable southern person would eat at a restaurant without sweet tea on the menu.

Friday, April 3, 2009

Tonight I had the pleasure of ingesting a frog leg...yes, for the first time. And, I know that you are thinking, "Well Farmchick, what did you think?" Hmmm...it was okay. Not earth shattering, but okay. I mean, they were some little legs, so just what was I expecting?

I was expecting this experience to "up" my Southerness. To make me want to have a Moonpie and an RC for dessert. To make me say "y'all" and "ain't" all night. To make me put peanuts in my Coke. To make me want to bake a batch of cheese straws, just in case company comes to visit. To make me want to call my Mama and throw up my hand to wave at everyone on my drive home.

Alas, not one of these urges came over me this evening. Maybe it will hit me in the morning.

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About Me

A transplant from the city trying to make a life in a small southern town....where everyone knows my business before I do. Known as a, "Farmchick", because I'm a little bit of farm and a lot of chick. Not famous in this small town, people just talk about me like I am.
Join me as I record small town life through the lens of my camera and reflect upon how the simple life, and a little rust, can really be a good thing.